Thunderbird Club

[Gaolee]

Still experimenting with the ACC.

RF interference is an issue for going wireless, so get yourself a really long cord. Then get as far away from the ACC stack as you can and listen to what's going on clean first. What you will discover is that a 370 head is going full bore by about noon, maybe sooner. Dialing up "volume" past that results in Jaco-esque SS distortion. That's not my thing, and it's a knock on ACC amps if you don't have an understanding of how the volume knob works. Once you do that, then start adding different things to the signal chain. A 370 also has decent, if primitive EQ capabilities. I like having the 360 less than cranked, which results in the biggest, roundest sound you can imagine. It's like a swirling mixture of dark, saturated red, blue and purple, with a black border, all with no Ampeg harshness.

 

[Dr_Feelgoood212]

RF interference is an issue for going wireless, so get yourself a really long cord. Then get as far away from the ACC stack as you can and listen to what's going on clean first. What you will discover is that a 370 head is going full bore by about noon, maybe sooner. Dialing up "volume" past that results in Jaco-esque SS distortion. That's not my thing, and it's a knock on ACC amps if you don't have an understanding of how the volume knob works. Once you do that, then start adding different things to the signal chain. A 370 also has decent, if primitive EQ capabilities. I like having the 360 less than cranked, which results in the biggest, roundest sound you can imagine. It's like a swirling mixture of dark, saturated red, blue and purple, with a black border, all with no Ampeg harshness.

Ironically the RF doesn't pass through the 370, only my amps with a tube pre amp, another reason to try the B7KU into the preamp-in on my practice amps. The RF interference is coming into the basses themselves, as I don't have a wireless unit to begin with.
Currently, I am unable to turn up the 370 past 9:00ish, at least not until I build some form of music room in the basement. When I do play through it I have my longest cables at each end of my pedal board, this way I can be as far away as possible from the rig. But when I do get a chance to turn the volume up on it.... without blowing out my windows..... I will definitely play around with the volume. I also find that the volume pot doesn't bring the volume right down to mute, but doesn't change anything until 8:00, possibly a bad knob.

I don't usually have the B7KU active with the 370, it already has a great tone to start with. I just like messing around with it.

 

[Gaolee]

Ironically the RF doesn't pass through the 370, only my amps with a tube pre amp, another reason to try the B7KU into the preamp-in on my practice amps. The RF interference is coming into the basses themselves, as I don't have a wireless unit to begin with.
Currently, I am unable to turn up the 370 past 9:00ish, at least not until I build some form of music room in the basement. When I do play through it I have my longest cables at each end of my pedal board, this way I can be as far away as possible from the rig. But when I do get a chance to turn the volume up on it.... without blowing out my windows..... I will definitely play around with the volume. I also find that the volume pot doesn't bring the volume right down to mute, but doesn't change anything until 8:00, possibly a bad knob.

I don't usually have the B7KU active with the 370, it already has a great tone to start with. I just like messing around with it.

The volume knob on a 370 goes to full volume way too fast, in my opinion. But, if you only have adjustment from whatever signal it passes when it should be zero and full tilt, and that adjustment is between 8:00 and 9:00, then it's a bad pot. Easy enough to fix, I would think. Not as easy as replacing a pot in a guitar though. Or maybe it is - I really just flat don't remember what kind of pots were in either the 370 or 320 that I had back when.

 

[GBassNorth]

Finally got the time to watch one of the DG Vintage Ultra pedal videos. Way cool on tone shaping and overdrive capability, but unfortunately totally useless to me in a signal chain during a performance. It has so many tone shaping options and interactions between knobs and switches I'm sure I would eventually find a number of sounds I love and would never be able to repeat them on the fly.

IMHO the pedal is missing one critical element to be considered a road worthy pedal - Memory Presets. If I can't get from sound one to sound two with the push of one or two buttons it's worthless to me. The best I can do with the DG Vintage Ultra is three options (bypass, tone, overdrive) and I don't need the pedal for bypass, tone is already covered by my amp (which has more options than the pedal) and overdrive may be accomplished better with a dedicated OD pedal at a fraction of the price. If DG were to install three memory buttons for tone and three for overdrive it would be a perfect pedal. Other than that, it's a sandbox tool that lets you experiment around with tons of different tone and overdrive settings.

Maybe a neat thing to have in your private studio or home recording set up, where time isn't money and spending time fidgeting around with knobs and switches isn't a concern. In that setting the DG would be awesome. But unfortunately not on my pedal board until it has some memory capability. Close, but no cigar.

 

[Dr_Feelgoood212]

The volume knob on a 370 goes to full volume way too fast, in my opinion. But, if you only have adjustment from whatever signal it passes when it should be zero and full tilt, and that adjustment is between 8:00 and 9:00, then it's a bad pot. Easy enough to fix, I would think. Not as easy as replacing a pot in a guitar though. Or maybe it is - I really just flat don't remember what kind of pots were in either the 370 or 320 that I had back when.

I'll have to turn it up tomorrow, but I'm pretty sure that there is more adjustment past 9:00, I just don't play it that loud in fear of knocking the house down.

There's an amp tech within an hour of me, I've been debating on calling and scheduling a checkup appointment for the 370. Haven't gotten around to it though.

 

[Gaolee]

If it is a seismic event when you play through it, then you know the guts are healthy.

 

[BklynKen]

Finally got the time to watch one of the DG Vintage Ultra pedal videos. Way cool on tone shaping and overdrive capability, but unfortunately totally useless to me in a signal chain during a performance. It has so many tone shaping options and interactions between knobs and switches I'm sure I would eventually find a number of sounds I love and would never be able to repeat them on the fly.

IMHO the pedal is missing one critical element to be considered a road worthy pedal - Memory Presets. If I can't get from sound one to sound two with the push of one or two buttons it's worthless to me. The best I can do with the DG Vintage Ultra is three options (bypass, tone, overdrive) and I don't need the pedal for bypass, tone is already covered by my amp (which has more options than the pedal) and overdrive may be accomplished better with a dedicated OD pedal at a fraction of the price. If DG were to install three memory buttons for tone and three for overdrive it would be a perfect pedal. Other than that, it's a sandbox tool that lets you experiment around with tons of different tone and overdrive settings.

Maybe a neat thing to have in your private studio or home recording set up, where time isn't money and spending time fidgeting around with knobs and switches isn't a concern. In that setting the DG would be awesome. But unfortunately not on my pedal board until it has some memory capability. Close, but no cigar.

Not sure there's any good way to do that, other than going full-on digital.

Jon Stockman, for whom the Alpha-Omega was originally made, has multiple AOs on his board, for the situation you're talking about. I just have one setting and leave it at that. I guess I'm not as creative as others here.

 

[Dr_Feelgoood212]

Finally got the time to watch one of the DG Vintage Ultra pedal videos. Way cool on tone shaping and overdrive capability, but unfortunately totally useless to me in a signal chain during a performance. It has so many tone shaping options and interactions between knobs and switches I'm sure I would eventually find a number of sounds I love and would never be able to repeat them on the fly.

IMHO the pedal is missing one critical element to be considered a road worthy pedal - Memory Presets. If I can't get from sound one to sound two with the push of one or two buttons it's worthless to me. The best I can do with the DG Vintage Ultra is three options (bypass, tone, overdrive) and I don't need the pedal for bypass, tone is already covered by my amp (which has more options than the pedal) and overdrive may be accomplished better with a dedicated OD pedal at a fraction of the price. If DG were to install three memory buttons for tone and three for overdrive it would be a perfect pedal. Other than that, it's a sandbox tool that lets you experiment around with tons of different tone and overdrive settings.

Maybe a neat thing to have in your private studio or home recording set up, where time isn't money and spending time fidgeting around with knobs and switches isn't a concern. In that setting the DG would be awesome. But unfortunately not on my pedal board until it has some memory capability. Close, but no cigar.

I'm fairly positive that DG pedals are analog, making a Memory Preset not an option.
The "bypass" is labelled counter-intuitive, for lack of a better term, when not active (light off) the pedal is 100% bypassed, when the light is on, the preamp eq is active. You cannot run the pedal as a dedicated OD pedal, the "bypass" must be active as well. The reasoning for being able to turn the OD off, I would assume, is so you can run the pedal as a clean preamp.

 

[Dr_Feelgoood212]

If it is a seismic event when you play through it, then you know the guts are healthy.

It'd also be a test to see if I like/trust the guy in case anything happens to my Mesa amp. That's why I brought my Jazz to a local "luthier" for a setup instead of any of my Birds. I was not a fan.

But with that logic I would say the guts are healthy

 

[BklynKen]

I like this. This is who is doing my RNR conversion.

 

[Larry V]

I like this. This is who is doing my RNR conversion.

Looks like he flies RC model airplanes.

 

[kat888]

My current chain is:
Bass... I mean Thunderbird => Parapedal Wah => B7KU => Boss BF-3 Flanger => Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor (lots of RF interference near my place) => Mesa
(Strategy footswitch has a tuner-out, which is where my tuner sits)

Bird > Tuna > Compressor I don't use anymore but it was expensive and I'm sentimentally attached AND it's Canadian and you never know...so it's staying > TC Corona chorus cos everyone needs their greens > Amp or Preamp (depends eh?).

The reasoning for being able to turn the OD off, I would assume, is so you can run the pedal as a clean preamp.

That's one of the attractive things about the DG pre pedals vs the Sansamp -- there's a nice sounding clean preamp underneath. With the Sansamp it's all or nothing.

 

[Korladis]

I'm with Ken, B7KU into the front.

When running my Mesa, I'll use the B7KU primarily as an OD/Distortion pedal, usally for heavier distortion. Or if I'm playing something that has clean and dirty sections I'll have the amp running clean and the B7KU set to a tube-like overdrive, or whatever that song calls for. EQ'd the preamp part of the pedal to thicken the distortion, so it doesn't wildly change the tone. The pedal can get very close to tube overdrive, but you just can't beat real tube overdrive.

When playing a practice amp, I still run it into the front but I'll use the DG for warm tube-like dirt, and take full advantage of the eq on the pedal. I should experiment with running the pedal into the preamp-in.

Still experimenting with the ACC.

In the signal chain, I treat the B7KU like a typical dirt pedals, right after the wah.
My current chain is:
Bass... I mean Thunderbird => Parapedal Wah => B7KU => Boss BF-3 Flanger => Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor (lots of RF interference near my place) => Mesa
(Strategy footswitch has a tuner-out, which is where my tuner sits)

Huh... I usually run my fuzz pedals before wah. My wah is the last thing before my delay and reverb.

 

[Korladis]

Speaking of wah, I do a little bit in this song from the new album (out on wednesday!), featured in the track premiere on Cvlt Nation:

Invalid Link Removed

 

[kat888]

Running into the pre of the GK, Bass is rolled off to 8o'clock, and almost a full low mid cut, treble and high mid boost to about 1o'clock.

Thanks. Another thing -- you deffo need a pedal board now. Tuner + Preamp + PSU.

 

[BklynKen]

Thanks. Another thing -- you deffo need a pedal board now. Tuner + Preamp + PSU.

Jeez, all I have is a tuner and the AO and I use a board. Keeps it all neatly together.

 

[Dr_Feelgoood212]

Bird > Tuna > Compressor I don't use anymore but it was expensive and I'm sentimentally attached AND it's Canadian and you never know...so it's staying > TC Corona chorus cos everyone needs their greens > Amp or Preamp (depends eh?).



That's one of the attractive things about the DG pre pedals vs the Sansamp -- there's a nice sounding clean preamp underneath. With the Sansamp it's all or nothing.

Sometimes you need a girdle for that thick tone, depends if the bird has been eating the tuna or the greens.
My only green pedal got taken out by the Tintedglass, it was a EHX Deluxe Bass Muff. But purple works for me.


Sorry, today's been long and boring, with little sleep.

 

[Dr_Feelgoood212]

Huh... I usually run my fuzz pedals before wah. My wah is the last thing before my delay and reverb.

There's not set in stone rules signal chain, it wouldn't be rock n roll if there was, but I've always heard that wahs typically go first. Haven't really messed around with the path of my pedals though.

 

[Korladis]

There's not set in stone rules signal chain, it wouldn't be rock n roll if there was, but I've always heard that wahs typically go first. Haven't really messed around with the path of my pedals though.

Tried dirt and fuzz both before and after. After always seems to subdue the effect of the wah, making it way more subtle than I want it.

 

[kat888]

Jeez, all I have is a tuner and the AO and I use a board. Keeps it all neatly together.

Yep. No strain constantly plugging and unplugging cables and the rest. A PSU stops batteries going into landfill. It's harder to nick a pedal board than a single pedal... I recently discovered that DualLock comes off pedals without leaving a nasty sticky residue, which is a bonus.